UPCOMING EVENTS

It looks like HP is the company behind an upcoming Chrome OS device with some impressive features, including USB Type-C charging and a touchscreen.

The device has a board, code-named Chell, that dates back to October. Some observers suspected that “Chell” would be the next Google-branded Chromebook Pixel, which would follow the release of a revamped version in March 2015, and then the Pixel C in December 2015. But now it seems that one of the longtime Chromebook third-party vendors will be making this fancy one.

During code review for the implementation of Chrome OS on the device in January, a Quanta employee identified HP as the manufacturer of the “Chell” machine, as Chrome Story reported. But other online discussions about “Chell” reveal more about the device.

A Chromium code commit in February shows that the Chromebook will have a touchscreen. Other code states that “Chell” will have not one but two USB ports, along with a traditional USB-A port, an SD card reader, Bluetooth, and an Intel Skylake chip. (Many of these features are available on last year’s $999 Chromebook Pixel.)

The device will also feature 16GB of RAM and a backlit keyboard, as Chrome Story reported last month. It’s not clear what graphics card the Chromebook will have.

Chrome Story’s new report indicated that the “Chell” Chromebook would have some kind of virtual reality (VR) support. (Some code for the “VR” settings is here.) But the “VR” references may actually stand for voltage regulator, not virtual reality, a source familiar with the matter told VentureBeat.